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Mar 27, 2009, 10:55 AM - Opinions on this ebay Jango armor as a cheap start for a female mando?#1

I've got the chest/boob armor from Rotton, now I need the rest of the pieces. My wife likes the more armored look of Jango vs. Boba, so she wants the thigh, shin, and maybe boot armor that he sports. I found the above for sale on the bay and it looks tempting. I'd never consider it for an accurate Jango, but it looks like it could work for a custom. I wouldn't need the chest pieces, but even $85 for the cod, thighs, knees (of questionable quality, those), shins, boots, shoulders, and back plate doesn't seem terribly bad.

What does everyone think? Would this be a mistake to buy? I know there are better options (better materials, better accuracy) out there, but those that I have found have been too pricey. Thoughts? Alternatives?

Yes, trashcan or just sintra would probably be a better option and save a little coinage... you can use the trashcan thread to see the cans to use, and I even contimplated using the same cans for the leg armor (before I came across some nice BKBT )

Depends if you have the money to burn, those kneepads will have to be changed straight off.

Even to my completely novice eye I can tell they're too "round", but what changes do you think need to be made to those kneepads? Do you think what's there is salvageable, or would you be better off just starting from scratch?

It could be used as a base for a custom, but for the money and the "quality" involved, it might be more worthwhile (and cost-effective) to make your own from Sintra or the trash-can technique.

Plus, you may find it more rewarding to say "Yeap. I made this myself." A lot of us do.

In the end, do what works best for you and what you're most comfortable with. I agree that those knees would have to be scrapped, but the rest could be used as a starting point with some tweaking and re-shaping.

Also note: Jango doesn't have the butt-plate. I don't know why that's there.

Go with the trashcan method. For one thing, she needs to have thighs are look proportionate on her, and general sizing isn't going to cut it for that.

Do you have a fax machine? I have some leg patterns that I use when I make female metal armor that you can translate to plastic, they are based off the Vhonte Thervo/Rav Bralor armor set...so they technically go with the armor you bought from rotton. You can cut them down in length to fit, but the width shouldn't need to be touched.

I also have a nice female bikini style cod piece girls that fits and looks much better than the wide male ones.

cyanides armor's not bad if you don't want to ake your own. but, you can cut your own sintra for less than 1/2 the cost and trashcan would be less than 1/2 that. also, cyanides is 3mm sintra which is nearly twice the thickness of rottons plates. a trashcan would give a more uniform look.

I would say go with the trashcan, too. I was looking at those auctions. They're ok, but like was said, you can make your own and save money. Also, you're not going to totally know how it will fit until you get it. With the trashcan armour, you can print out the templates to the specific sizes you need.

Thanks for all the feedback, everyone. That's about 10 votes for trashcan armor and 0 votes for this stuff... so it looks like it's time for me to do some more trashcan armor research.

My only concern is timing. I have a goal of having her armor done in time for DCon (only 155 days left!) and saving the time of printing templates, cutting pieces, and heating/bending to fit might be worthwhile. I have 2 babies in the house, so costuming time is limited. Not to mention, there're about 5 other costumes I want to have done in the meantime! Still, saving $$ in these economic times does sound awfully nice.

That should be enough time for it all, even factoring in the kids and stuff. You can print out the templates and trace them onto trashcans in less than an hour. The cutting time depends on the tools you have. If you don't have a dremel, I'd suggest getting one. You can cut out the pieces with metal snips, but that takes more time...and it tends to kill your hands, lol. The dremel will cut the time down a lot. There's also a video on youtube, showing how to cut out the armour with a dremel. If you don't have a lot of experience with one.

The great thing about the trashcans, is that they are generally the right curve as they are. I know mine is curved great for my body. And, the larger trashcan was on sale at my local Walmart for $7, I bought 2.

Good luck!

Edit: I just cut out my trashcan chest armour, with a dremel it took me about 25-35min. Still needs cleaning up, but that'll give you an idea.

If you schedule enough time to put the armor together, then you should have enough time. I built an entire metal suit for my GF in 22 days, including soft parts...and it came out great!

However it drained pretty much every bit of energy I had for DCon last year, so I won't be doing that again...ever! =P

The only thing I can't help much with is the chest armor. My patterns are speficially for metal, but only the collar, shoulders, stomach and below will xfer over to plastic. The chest and back pieces have to be tailor made then dished out according to cup size and back curve. You can find lots of pics here or in the female sections of the Mercs armor boards that will give you lots of ways to overcome this though.

I've got the chest/boob armor from Rotton, now I need the rest of the pieces. My wife likes the more armored look of Jango vs. Boba, so she wants the thigh, shin, and maybe boot armor that he sports. I found the above for sale on the bay and it looks tempting. I'd never consider it for an accurate Jango, but it looks like it could work for a custom. I wouldn't need the chest pieces, but even $85 for the cod, thighs, knees (of questionable quality, those), shins, boots, shoulders, and back plate doesn't seem terribly bad.

What does everyone think? Would this be a mistake to buy? I know there are better options (better materials, better accuracy) out there, but those that I have found have been too pricey. Thoughts? Alternatives?

I just want to reinerrerate since this topics been necrothreaded, this is NOT bad armor. It's actually quite nice, esepcially the cod being one piece and formed from 3MM sintra. For the price, it's a good set of premade armor. However, we have a guy at Mercs who makes metal sets premade for about the same cost.

Also, you can make your own set of 3mm sintra for a fraction of buying one that someone has already cut for you. And, 3MM sintra is 100% superior to trashcan.

I was looking at this armor, too. Was thinking of using it for my wife's custom. After DLing the templates found on this wonderful site, I think I'll give a shot at making the parts myself. I think I can get the sintra at a plastic manufacturer in KC, so I can even save on the shipping.

Thanks for the info on this armor. I like hearing that it is decent quality in case I decide to go that route.

I also am considering using this very stuff for a custom. In fact, oddly enough, I encountered it, and this thread, today. I can see how it might be considered less accurate for a Boba, but for what I have in mind I think it'll work well... 'specially since I plan to build extra stuff on top of it.